Ontario's first law school in nearly half a century and Canada's first architecture school in 45 years are both are in northern Ontario.

Premier Kathleen Wynne on Wednesday cut the ribbon at the new law school at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, and the new architecture school at Laurentian University in Sudbury.

Both universities have long called for these programs to boost the northern economy, revive their downtown cores and build a pool of lawyers and architects who might stay and help address the shortage of home-grown professionals in the north.

Both universities already share a northern medical school.

“Our government is delivering on its commitment to support innovative projects which spur job creation and economic growth and lay the foundations for the long-term prosperity of northern Ontario,” said Wynne at Laurentian, whose
$42.6 million program
welcomed its first 70 architecture students of what will eventually grow to a body of 400.

Earlier, Wynne cut the ribbon at Lakehead’s law school which has enrolled its first 60 of an eventual 160 students.

Both programs will include a focus on aboriginal issues, from aboriginal law to aboriginal-inspired design, to reflect the higher proportion of First Nations in the north.

As well, both will focus on the natural resources so prominent in this part of the province, from natural resource law to the use of natural materials — especially wood — in building design.

Laurentian’s architecture program will be bilingual, offering the first architecture courses in French outside Quebec and plans to launch Canada’s only French-language master’s program in architecture in the future at the small but booming university.

“This is a story that proves it’s not about being big — it’s about thinking big,” said Laurentian president Dominic Giroux, noting the first stage of the school is housed in two renovated downtown heritage buildings; the CPR telegraph building from 1914 and the CPR rail shed from 1905.

In Thunder Bay, Lakehead’s law school is housed in the historic former Port Arthur Collegiate Institute, built in 1909 but recently closed due to declining enrolment and renovated with $1.5 million from Queen’s Park.

“This faculty of law is in the north for the people of the north,” said Lakehead president Brian Stevenson. “Our focus is on preparing students who wish to practice law in rural and smaller centers where there is a need to increase access to justice.”

Correction - September 5, 2013:
This article was edited from a previous version that said Lakehead's new law school is the first in Canada in nearly half a century.

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